by Bella Grant
“You sound stuck-up and you’re not even married to him yet,” she yelled after me.
“Who said I was marrying him?” I asked as I closed my bedroom door for some peace. A few minutes later, I heard Amy grab a blanket from the closet in the hallway; she was sleeping on my couch tonight. She left me with some hard truth to think about. I was in love with Mr. Rich. Oh great!
***
My doorbell rang at seven the next morning. Nick had sent the limo to retrieve me, and when I opened the door, he was standing there, dressed in a tee-shirt and jeans.
“Hi. Good morning,” I stammered.
“Hello, Sara. Ready?”
“Sort of. I wasn’t expecting you. Thought you’d send David.”
“I missed you,” he said and planted a kiss on my lips before I could reply. “I’ll wait for you in the limo if you prefer.”
“No, here is fine,” I said, smarting from the unexpected kiss. “I’ll just grab my bag and we’ll be on our way. Amy’s sleeping on the couch, and if she wakes up, I don’t think she’ll let you go easily.”
“In that case, let’s not wake her up,” he whispered, smiling. “You look really nice.”
I was wearing a plum sundress with a low neckline. It was one of my favorite outfits because the dress made my breasts perkier while slimming my waist and enhancing my ass. I always got compliments when I wore it, and Nick was no exception. However, his compliment seemed far more important than any other person’s did.
“Thank you,” I said shyly as I reached behind me and grabbed the backpack I had packed the night before. On a second thought, I grabbed my passport before walking to the car with him. It took only a minute to settle into the backseat with Nick and lean against him as if it was normal. He put his arm around my shoulders and drew me close.
“You good?” he asked.
I swallowed hard like I always did when he looked at me so intensely. I whispered, “Yes.”
“Great, because I want you to relax and enjoy this trip.”
I nodded. A sudden thought came to me. No one knew where I was going, not even Amy.
“So where are we going?” I asked, smiling at him. “I just need the address so I can send it to Amy. She’s a mother hen. Don’t want her reporting me as kidnapped.”
“It’s good to have people who love you,” he said. “Give me your phone and I will text it to her. It’s a surprise for you, and I don’t want to ruin it by giving you the exact address.”
I obliged him, my thoughts still on the word love he had just casually thrown at me. Yes, Amy loved me, and I understood what he meant, but he had said “people who love you.” Was he part of that group? I glanced at him as he texted Amy from my phone, doing his best to shield the phone from me so I didn’t know our destination.
“I might need to call in to work,” I commented. “I have to let my boss know I’ll be gone, but I need to know how long we’ll be gone.”
“I already took care of that. They don’t expect you back for a few days.”
“You called my boss?” I asked incredulously. Mr. Rich was rather presumptuous, and I didn’t know if I liked it.
“Didn’t have to. I am friends with your boss, so I can have you all to myself for as long as you’re available.”
I giggled. “Hope that gets you a free coffee next time you go there. I probably will get fired by the time I return and won’t be able to hook you up.”
“You’re probably right,” he said, smiling. “But you will always have a job offer from my company.”
I looked out the window as we passed lush greenery. I had expected we were going out of town, but we seemed to be heading right into town, away from the suburbs.
“Ordinarily, I would have said yes, but you can’t mix business with pleasure,” I teased. “It’s one or the other.”
“It will be a pleasure to work with you,” he added. “Business or pleasure.”
“I have to think about that,” I said, giving him a naughty look. “Pleasure for sure.”
“What’s there to think about? I think I’m charming, handsome…”
“You are all that, which is why working with you would never work,” I said.
He remained quiet for a few seconds as if he was thinking about my response. “Yes, it’ll be hard to keep my hands off you.”
I admitted shyly, “Me too.”
“We’re almost there,” Nick said, looking out the window. I followed his gaze; we were heading to the airport.
“Are we flying somewhere?” I asked as we took the exit for the airport.
“Do you want to?” he teased.
“As long as you’re not the one flying,” I giggled. “Afraid I’ll distract you.”
“Very true,” he said seriously. “Fortunately, I’m not the pilot today, but someday I’ll take you on a private trip.”
I smiled at him, tongue-tied. Nick was talking about us as if we had a future together, and I liked it.
The driver drove past the departures section of the airport where I had assumed we would stop and turned at a sign that read independent planes. We flying on a private jet? Nick seemed to have read my mind because he pointed to a private jet that read Saunders Empires on the side.
“That’s our ride,” he said. “Was the best I could do on short notice.”
“Are you serious?” I asked, my eyes widening. “This is more than enough.”
“Nothing will ever be more than enough when it comes to you, Sara. I need you to remember that.” I nodded and leaned in to kiss him, but he was distracted as a car nearly ran into the limo.
“What in the world,” he mumbled, looking out his window at another limo that had driven past and parked in front of his private jet. He grunted. I looked at him but didn’t speak. Whoever was in that car was not someone he wanted to see. The driver pulled up next to the other limo just as the occupant of the car alighted.
“Fucking unbelievable!” Nick swore as he saw a woman approaching his limo.
The woman, dressed in a body-hugging dress and walking towards us, was Olivia Newton, the girl he had kissed me in front of at the ball, the woman he seemed determined to avoid in every way possible.
“She is not supposed to be here,” Nick swore. “She just won’t quit.”
I remained silent, conflicting thoughts running through my mind. Why was Olivia here? How did she know we were travelling today? Were she and Nick still dating and I was just a sidepiece? As I thought more and more about Olivia, a part of me grew angry, then jealous.
“Excuse me, Sara. I’ll be right back,” Nick said in a firm but controlled voice. He was mad but was doing his best to control himself.
Before I could respond, he opened the door and took long strides towards the woman. This was going to be very interesting.
NICK
Nick walked towards Olivia, anger boiling. Of all the times and places she had to show up, it was at this moment. Olivia had upset Sara before, and he didn’t want that happening again, especially since they were no longer a couple. He regretted the day he had taken Olivia on a trip in his private jet.
“Hello, Olivia,” he said as approached her. “How can I help you?”
“Nick! I was hoping to see you here. Your secretary said you were going out of town. Need some company?”
She tried to kiss him on the mouth, but he moved his head so the kiss landed on the cheek. He truly hoped Sara hadn’t seen that. “Did my secretary not tell you I had company already?”
“Who? That girl? You’re still hanging out with her? You are certainly lowering your standards. Anyways, she told me you’re flying to your villa in Italy. I want to go with you.”
“Olivia, I’ve got all the company I need in that car over there. And I care about her, so please, you need to leave.”
Olivia looked at Nick for a moment as if he wasn’t serious. Then she attempted to call his bluff and reached out to kiss him again. She got him on the lips.
“Stop, Olivia,” he said, pushin
g her away. He glanced at the car, hoping Sara hadn’t seen that kiss either. However, she had seen it, because she’d opened the door of the limo, climbed out, and started walking away from the limo.
“Sara? Hold on!” Nick called as he left Olivia and ran after Sara.
SARA
I understood Olivia was imposing herself on Nick, but he had not refused the kiss she gave him. From my vantage point in the limo, it seemed like he had enjoyed the kiss, which of course made a mockery of our young relationship, or the relationship I was beginning to think we had. I needed to get out of there fast, even if I had to walk. Once I got to the main airport, I could call a cab. Enough of the charade. If Nick wanted Olivia, he could have her. I would leave him alone. Yes, my heart would break, but better now than much later.
“Sara!” Nick yelled my name, but I wasn’t going to stop. “Please stop.”
I heard him running to catch me, and I wanted to sprint just to get away from him. I was so focused on getting away from him, I stubbed my toe on a rock.
“Fuck!” I swore as I doubled over to hold my big toe, which had hit the rock and was throbbing like crazy. “Shit. Shouldn’t have worn sandals.”
“Sara,” Nick said as he reached me. “Hang on.”
Of course, I was going to hang on; there was nowhere else to go with a sore toe. He was by my side in a few seconds, and before I knew what was happening, he had swept me off the ground as if I was made of paper.
“What are you doing? Put me down,” I said, annoyed because he was treating me like a baby and upset at him for the kiss he had just shared with Olivia. “I just hurt my toe. I didn’t break my leg.”
“I know,” he said, “but I don’t want to risk you running off on a sore toe. I need to make sure it doesn’t get infected.”
“Why should it matter to you what happens to my toe?” I frowned. “Can you please put me down?”
“What do you think, Sara? That I would put you down and let you hurt yourself more? No, not happening. Why do you think I care what happens to you?”
I knew the answer to his question: he liked me a lot, but that didn’t discount the fact that his ex had hunted him down to his private jet. If she knew all that information about him, wasn’t she a potential threat to me? I decided to remain silent.
“I’m sorry you had to see Olivia being Olivia. She is my ex. She cheated on me, and it’s been over for years. She just likes to cause trouble occasionally. I will put her back in her place once and for all, I promise,” he said, his eyes pleading with me.
I believed him, but I didn’t want to make this easy for him. If he truly wanted us to have a chance at a relationship, then Olivia had to truly be an ex.
“Can you forgive what you saw?” I looked at him, his eyes tender. I could never hold anything against him. “Please?” he begged. “It will never happen again.”
I knew Nick hardly begged, but in the space of the few days I had known him, he’d had to say please more times than he had all his life. I nodded. Yes, I could probably forgive him for everything.
Olivia walked up to us, and she didn’t look too happy. In the moment Nick and I shared, I had forgotten she was there.
“Will you look at that? Nick, forever a gentleman,” Olivia said, her voice filled with disdain.
“Hello,” I muttered to her. I didn’t really want to speak to her, but it would be just plain rude to walk by her, no, rather, be carried by her billionaire ex-boyfriend past her, and not say a word. Nick ignored her comment and continued to his private jet. David had noticed the dilemma and rushed from the car.
“May I help you, sir?” he asked, referring to helping him carry me.
“No, I can manage,” Nick said, frowning. Of course, he could manage. Mr. Rich had so many muscles I probably weighed nothing to him.
“Yes, sir,” David said as he moved to the side. “Should I get the luggage?”
“Yes. Thank you,” Nick answered. He had reached his jet, which was open and waiting for him. His pilot, a tall, lanky man, greeted him and asked him if he could help. Nick again rejected his offer but when he attempted to carry me up the stairs of the plane, it quickly dawned on him that it was dangerous, so he set me down.
“Can you walk?” he asked gently.
“I didn’t break anything. Of course I can walk.”
Nick still held my hand, supporting my weight. “Take it slow. One step at a time.”
I wanted to giggle at the ridiculousness of his behavior; he was treating me like a child. As I put weight on my foot, I realized he was right. “Ouch,” I gasped as I felt as sharp pain rip through my toe.
“Take it easy,” he said gently.
I nodded and took another step, more gently. It didn’t hurt as much. I took a couple more steps and soon I was in the plane.
“Nice.” The words escaped my mouth involuntarily, my hurting toe forgotten. Nice was actually an understatement for the sight before me – posh, cream leather reclining chairs, dark brown, soft carpet, cherry wood trimmings, marble, crystal, chandeliers, flat screen TVs – the jet looked like a five-star hotel lounge.
“Thanks,” Nick said. “Now let’s look at your toe. Sit here.” He led me to a couch and sat next to me. “Are you comfortable?” I nodded. “Good. Lay back and let me see your toe,” he said as he helped me lie back. He took off the sandal and placed my foot on his knee. “Doesn’t look too bad.”
“You’re kidding me, Nick.” Olivia had followed us into the plane. “Shouldn’t one of your chauffeurs take her home or to the hospital or wherever. What the fuck are you doing?”
“Taking care of my woman,” Nick told her, the look on his face serious. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Olivia didn’t immediately respond, but the look on her face said it all. She was so mad at Nick and at me, she would have punched us if she could have. I looked at Nick, the phrase ‘my woman’ swimming in my head. I was his woman!
“Well, good luck to you. And here’s a keepsake for you, you asshole!” she yelled as she yanked a necklace off her neck, threw it at Nick, and walked off the plane.
The necklace fell to the floor with a thud. It looked very much like the necklace Nick had given me. I had been right; he gave everyone the same exact necklace. Mine was not an exception. It was no more special than the one Olivia had tossed on the floor. I looked at him and then at the necklace. I should have done the same thing with the necklace he had given me days ago. I felt stupid sitting in his plane, my legs on his knee, a duplicate necklace he had given me flung to the floor by his bitchy ex. This was not good at all.
“I have to go,” I said abruptly. I tried to stand but fell back on the chair as pain tore through my toe.
“No, wait, Sara. I can explain.”
“No, Nick. I don’t think I’m ready for this. With the kiss from the ex and the necklace you gave me and insisted on me wearing a copy of your ex’s? What sort of game are you playing?”
“What? You’re jumping to conclusions, Sara.”
“I may be, but at least I’m not deceiving you,” I said as I scrambled to get up from the chair and finally succeeded.
“You need to hang on for one sec.”
“Nick. I’m not ready for all this. This is nice, the private jet, the dinner, and every other thing money can offer, but I don’t want to lose myself or my morals.”
“What are you talking about?” Nick asked hotly.
I was overstepping my boundaries. Nick Saunders was a powerful man, and I had to tread carefully. Besides, I was in the middle of nowhere, on his property, and he was in charge. I needed to keep that in mind. I stood next to him but without heels on, I reached his shoulders, if at all. I felt like a child in front of a bear.
“You really want to know? Do me a last favor, Nick, and pick up that necklace?” I dared. I bet he wouldn’t touch it, would call one of his servants who was probably within earshot to come and pick it up. But I needed to prove a point.
Without hesitation, he picked
up the necklace Olivia had dropped on the floor and lay it on the table next to us. I hobbled over to my backpack and retrieved the goddamned jewelry box I had been carrying around for weeks. I pulled out the necklace and put it next to Olivia’s. They were identical.
“How do you explain this?” I asked. “You told me mine was unique, and yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have believed you, but I liked you enough to want more from you, from us.” I fought to stop the tears welling in my eyes. I hated crying, especially in front of a man. Certainly not in front of Nick. I couldn’t let him see how much I had grown to like him in the space of just a few days, and how much he could hurt me. After my ex, I had sworn that no other man would hurt me the way he had. But I was in the same place, being lied to and getting hurt again. Would I ever learn?
“Sit,” Nick commanded.
I sat without questioning, my tears and hurt quickly forgotten. I looked at him but couldn’t hold the intensity of his gaze. He was very upset. He pulled a magnifying glass out of a nearby drawer and gave it to me. I took it. I couldn’t afford to make him any more upset if I wanted to get out of there. He flipped both necklaces and pointed to an inscription on Olivia’s necklace. “Read.”
I placed the magnifier where his finger was resting and read the inscription. “Diamond Jewelries Gifts 2015.”
“Glad you can read,” he snapped, then pointed to an inscription on the one he had given me. “Read.”
I moved the magnifier to the inscription and read out aloud. “To Caroline, the woman of my dreams. 1935.”
For all the weeks I had possessed that necklace, I had not noticed that inscription. In my own defense, I would never have noticed the inscription without a magnifier, and he knew that. I looked at him, then at the necklaces again. They looked the same except the inscription. I realized after some thought that the one he had given me was a family heirloom, but that didn’t explain Olivia’s necklace.
“Is that all you can see?” he asked as he pointed to my necklace.
I placed the magnifier over the inscription again. “Susan. Cathy. Who are these women?” I asked, not sure what to think. More of his girlfriends?
